Speeches by Doughty.

“We remain huge supporters of the Blue Belt Programme. Indeed, we discussed this at the Joint Ministerial Council with the overseas territories leaders just a few weeks ago, and we have been encouraging further sign-ups. As you know, all government spending is part of the spending review processes, and it is not for me …”

“I will defer to Jane. She was in the conversation just a few minutes ago.”

“Specifically on plastics?”

“The only thing I would urge the Committee to consider, as well as small island states around the world and, indeed, the global sea rise and erosion effects globally, is that in our British family we have a number of small island states. I was just in the OTs in the Caribbean speaking with them directly about what they …”

“I might add that when you look at, for example, the impact on emperor penguin colonies, the low sea ice cover in 2022 resulted in the total breeding failure of four out of five of the emperor penguin colonies. We see a very direct and immediate impact on key species that we all want to see protected.”

“Thank you very much for inviting us to be here today. We take these issues extremely seriously, both within my own responsibilities but also working across government, particularly given the missions that the Prime Minister has set out on climate change, on energy and on green transition and nature protection. Those el…”

“I am Stephen Doughty. I am Minister of State at the FCDO, with responsibility for the polar regions.”

“I think it is worth also pointing out, of course, that multiple projects can go on at any one time on David Attenborough. It is an incredible facility, a first-class research ship with incredible crews. I have had the pleasure of meeting some of them in the Arctic a few months back, where they had been doing their work…”

“The bottom line, more generally, is that we are a fishing and a conservation nation, and the key thing is to be led by the science and be led by the data. That is why we put so much into that, and that is what should guide our approach going forward and will guide our approach engaging with others, too.”

“I will say a little introduction and pass to Jane, who has been part of some of the important discussions on this. We secured agreement on the first CCAMLR marine protected area in 2009 and we supported the Ross Sea region MPA designation in 2016. We have continued to advocate for a network of MPAs within the CCAMLR co…”

“We remain huge supporters of the Blue Belt Programme. Indeed, we discussed this at the Joint Ministerial Council with the overseas territories leaders just a few weeks ago, and we have been encouraging further sign-ups. As you know, all government spending is part of the spending review processes, and it is not for me …”

“I will defer to Jane. She was in the conversation just a few minutes ago.”

“Specifically on plastics?”

“I might add that when you look at, for example, the impact on emperor penguin colonies, the low sea ice cover in 2022 resulted in the total breeding failure of four out of five of the emperor penguin colonies. We see a very direct and immediate impact on key species that we all want to see protected.”

“That is absolutely the process that was undertaken and, again, I point out that this was a process we launched on day one. We considered the evidence, took a decision, and it led to the suspension of a number of the licences. That is a clear material difference, so that is a line being crossed and a decision being take…”

“Again, it is that absence of understanding the intent and decision-making process on the other side. I should just say, on the World Central Kitchen incident, that it was utterly appalling. We said so. The Foreign Secretary is obviously engaged with the families of the British aid workers who lost their lives in that i…”

“Without that full picture—without understanding what was going on on the other side—you cannot have that definitive judgment. That is the difficulty. It does not get away from the horror or the evidence that you see before you that we can all see with our own eyes. That is very much what we reflected when we spoke abou…”

“Assessment 9 is currently underway. It is about to report, and be considered in due course by Ministers, and then obviously the findings of that will be taken in due course. There has obviously been assessment 7, which was the one that triggered the 2 September suspension decision. That concluded between 25 April and 1…”

“The dates I have here are that it took place between 20 June and 31 July, and the licensing submissions were on 2 October.”

“Well, we all have very serious concerns, and we have all seen what we have seen in this Committee. But as I said, there is a technicality here about the way the assessments are done, and the way in which those then inform. As I said, the actual outcome of this is the same; the licences were suspended.”